by the Lord High Admiral whose Office is to execute all Orders from the Admiralty for fitting out of Ships what allowance of Men the Unrigging and laying them Up Building and Repairing of Ships or Houses they direct the manner of doing it they represent to the Admiralty the Quality and Condition of Ships Houses Docks c. the Qualities and Conditions of all Officers for Preferment viz. Warrant-Officers if not some Commissioned In fine they represent the whole Affair of the Navy to the Admiralty and receive Orders from them which they put and cause to be put in Execution by making By-orders grounded upon them They Contract and Pay for Assign-Bills for Payment for all Stores Wages and Victuals and all the Expence of the Navy and Audite all the Accompts and avouch all the Payments to the Treasurer by a Ledger which Ledger the Pay-Master of the Navy for the Treasurer passes into the Exchecquer every Year which undergo the Examination and Casting again of the Auditor of the Exchecquer which Ledger contains the Treasurer's Debtor and Creditor Accompt which Examination being over the Treasurer hath a Quietus out of the Exchecquer for his Acquitment But yet in general these aforesaid Commissioners are of very great Trust for they so negotiate the Affair of the Navy that not an Officer or Person in it but what comes under their Cognizance Their Office is partly Military and partly Civil-Military for they Execute or Direct all Councils of War which in the Roads or Rivers where no Admiral is they are Deciders of all Controversies between Man and Man concerning Debts to be defaulted out of their Pays They have Power to mulct any Man's Pay for Neglects and Offences committed They examine into all Men's Facts the lesser to punish by Pecuniary Mulcts and the greater to represent to the Admiralty and in the Interim to suspend them from the Service and in fine to do Justice between the King and the Subject To their Commissions from the Admiralty is generally added Commissions of the Peace for those Counties where it s thought the King's Affairs will lead them whereby they are enabled to Act in Civil Matters by doing Justice no any appertaining to the King's Affairs to decide Matters of Justice between any in the Yards or in their Travels commit any to Prison for Burglary Murther or Petty-larcony and may sit on the Bench at Assizes or General quarter-Quarter-Sessions And in fine may do any thing that a Justice of the Peace can do within the Limits of his Commission And for the Military he is the very Image and Deputy of the Lord High Admiral to put in Execution the Power which the Admiralty delegates unto him And if he be President of a Council of War he sits by virtue of a Commission from the Lord High Admiral and as his Proxy In fine It is a Place of very great Trust and Business and requires Men of Knowledge Wisdom Justice and Experience of the Naval Proceedings and of Courage also and Conduct for they are many times called to Sea to wear Flags such as have been made out of the Commanders at Sea Knowledge and Experience of the Navy to soon decide any Controversie arising between Officers concerning their respective Duties else the Officers will be apt to put Novelties and to raise Scruples if they know the Commissioner is not able to decide them whose Umpirage ought to be absolute in any of the Yards also when he is alone But when there is a Board it may be appealed to the Board but if the matter be not very great and grievous it were better to abide by his Umpirage For the Others will not care to meddle within his Precinct concerning any one in the Yard or Ordinary except they do belong to any Ship in Extraordinary And though there is a Captain who will assume the Power yet a Commissioner may grant Relief to a Wronged Person against the will of his Captain if the Ship be within the Harbour But of late Years the Commissioners of the Navy have been eclipsed and lessened by the Captains and the Rules of the Navy and the Antient Customs much broken For the Authority and Business of some have been stretched to that length that they themselves know not the end but of that I shall speak when I come to their particular Post As for a Commissioner of the Navy I have known him to bear very great Authority in the Harbour and at Pay and have done great Justice to particular Men who have been wronged by their Commanders unjust and merciless Spleen so that the grieved Officer and Mariner have rejoyced when they have come where a Commissioner was who would take the Captain to Task for his Inhumane or Unjust Dealings and reprimand him severely and if worthy would transfer the Matter to the Admiralty where the Commissioners Representation should be heard to the Others disadvantage And if a Ship came into the Harbour and the King's Affairs stood in need of hands he would not scruple to order one Ship 's Company to work on another to clear her for the Dock Rigg Re-fit and what not by which the Service might be furthered But as I said before the Case is much altered and the Hinges of that Affair quite Lame they will not move any way except you would have them go Backwards But I will not meddle with Particulars lest I should come within the Account of an Informer the which is reckon'd a thing of great Odium in the Navy-Affairs But I greatly admire that the Officers of the Upper-Rank should brand any one that lets them know of any fowl Fact with the Odium of an Informer and seemingly nay openly treats him unkindly It has seemed strange unto me and looked like the unjust Steward who not only Wronged his Master himself but shewed others to do it or looks like a Great Man's Steward who discourages or is angry with any one that comes to him and tells him That such an one hath cousened his Master or stollen his Goods of which he is the Head Steward what might be the Reason that generally in the Navy-Office and through the Practice of the Navy one that Informs of Cousenage or Theft in the Navy is stiled with an Odium and generally hated and discountenanced as also a Ticket-Buyer or Ticket-Monger as they in hatred term him and is looked upon as some ill Office done by him But in my mind these Two Persons are the King's Friends the former to deter Thieves and Unjust Men from their Evil Practices and the latter I shall speak to when I shall arrive at the Ticket-Office But these Treatments are very strange to me and seem as if there were a general Agreement against them as Evil Men and not fit to negotiate in the Navy But I shall say no more at Present but hide my Face with Shame and follow my Discourse of the Commissioners who are of that weight in this Aflair that if they be right and
us with his Almighty Finger to Rule and Govern in it which our former Princes have done without sparing Blood or Treasure to accomplish it But now the French King maketh very large Efforts to the bereaving us of that Right and Pirating Roving and Ravaging in it he having been increased in Shipping Navigation and Wealth by our late Impolitick Proceedings First by permitting the uneven balance of Trade with us And Secondly By directing or suffering the changing the ancient and Expeditious Methods of the Discipline and Government of the Navy Royal putting it into the hands of designing Projectors to enrich themselves only confounding the Affair exhausting much Treasure to multiply great Ships of little use to our purpose and neglecting of lesser Ships which we now want discouraging and disanimating Warranted bnd Standing Officers Mariners and Seamen by blind-folding Pretences of strict observance of Duty needless and from preserving the Mariner from being rooked of his Pay by having liberty to dispose of it as he pleases for which purpose he hath not been allowed an open Market for the same on Shoar to bring it into Money into his Pocket nor yet on Board allowed a Market where more than one Seller for Cloathing and other of their Wants which Methods I say have greatly disanimated all the Maritime People under a Commission Officer And I fear by the Novels introduced have brought Distraction and Confusion on it to the great impeding thereof Wherefore it is high time if it be not too late to awaken out of this Lethargy to recover our Dominion Honour and Prowess before it be past recovery now in this instant War with France to effect which the Nation must not spare Blood nor Treasure although it prove a Work of time and great Maritime Expences must be continued until it be gained without which no lasting Peace or Happiness can be expected for us to enjoy for the Sword being drawn by so many hands to carve themselves a share out of this said Maritime Dominion we are not able to judge how Sides may be taken or with whom we may happen to deal with before the Seas may enjoy a setled Peace Wherefore I emplore the King and Estates in Parliament to put the Navy into a posture of great and constant defence to dispoyl this Common Enemy of all his Commands or Collonies in the West-Indies and his Navigation of Fishing on the Banks of New-found-land but first to put the Navy into its former Methods of Expedition near unto what was practised when England did such Braveries at Sea as before spoken of and by expugning all the Novel and hurtful invented Intricacies and retain only the Laudable which is the principal and proper Work of the Lord High Admiral or Lords Commissioners for executing the said Office by appointing and choosing Experienced Wise Just Valiant and Religious Commissioners of the Navy Flag Officers Captains Commissioned and Warranted Officers all well approved in their Principles for the maintaining of the Monarchical Government of this Nation both in Church and State as by the Laws thereof established and to lay by all Vncapable and Irreligious Persons unjust Cowards Private-Interest-makers Trickers Dissemblers Designers Party-makers Debanched and Disloyal Persons to the said Government and by inviting and incouraging all good Men qualified as aforesaid and setling of Just Safe Expeditious and well experienced Methods in the Government thereof affixing and establishing Rewards and Preferments independant upon private Interest Bribes or immediate Superiors Commanding and also giving them ample and full Instructions for the performance of their respective Duties in doing which they shall be safe from violence or wrong done them by their Superiors not suffering Methods and Instructions to be either leapt over or broken like Cobwebs and they left to Despotical and Tyrannical Power I say the King Commissions the Lords of the Admiralty under him and by his Dictates unto them from time to time to Govern Fight and Manage the said Navy and to perform which they Constitute Commissioners of the Navy to negotiate under them and by their Dictates and Approbation to prepare and provide Ships Men Stores and all Necessaries Provisions Moneys c. and to Dispose Account and Order the same as Deputies of the Lord High Admiral having each his distinct Class or Order to act in yet a certain number thereof confirms all Actions viz. three of them whereof one is needful to be the Comptroller him unto whose particular Office the said Matters do more immediately relate whose Clerks in each Office are under their respective Inspections and Directions for Dispatches to keep them to their Duties duly observing their Errors in Methods and Protraction in Dispatches yet not wholly confined to their respective Offices but to mark all Errors in all others nay of all Degrees and Orders of the Navy under the Lord High Admiral but if they are designed to live at ease and let Business slide and do Justice as the unjust Judge did because he was wearied by the Complainant that he could not rest and no otherwise If he let Officers do their Dispatches at their Leisures Secretaries Clerks c. do most of the business I say if their Actions are with too much Grandeur and Deliberation and promulgate their Pleasures at too great distances and through too many Doors And if they move in the Affairs as some Country Justices doe to do Justice to their Country for at their procuring the Commission it was but to give them Authority to punish those that offended themselves or Friends in their Domestick Rights or slighted their Grandeur but to serve their Countrey or take pains to distribute Justice to relieve the oppressed and restore Men to lost Rights maintain Peace and Amity in Neighbourhoods punish Malefactors and Offenders and for doing this and many more good Offices spends his Time and Moneys at Assizes and Sessions he never intended any more than to live well himself and let the World Sink or Swim I say if such like proceedings be in the Navy then I conclude it has gotten a filthy Disease the Lethargy and to a waken it out of its Drowsinefs there ought to be some sharp Applications Wherefore I project that there should be another Officer created in the Navy viz. a Superseding Officer such as the French call an Intendant but I affect not the French Name nor Manners but the Latines or Romans a Censor one that should Censure all Officers in the Navy under the Lord High Admiral and be Commissioned by him to go and fit at all Boards Inspect all Officers and Books and observe their Methods and Practices in dispatches and censure dictate direct and correct the Errors quicken the Dispatches hear all Grievances and Complaints suspend all Contumelious Negligent Dishonest Disloyal and offending Officers refering them to the Admiralty for their Appeal whither he should transmit their Faults in a fair written Accusation taken before him at the place by his Clerk for that Purpose
to Oversee the same and by his Clerk enter all the Names in a general Entry-Book and dispose them to their Places Yards c. keeping a fair Ledger of their Names Places Whence Time Whither Disposed and When and also shall at their Matriculation or Entrance cause on one of their Arms to be made a Mark in the Skin with Powder that may never be gotten out viz. a K or what other Letter may be thought good to signifie whose Servants they are in case they should desert their Service that it should be a damage sufficient to any one that entertains them to deter them from it I do herein but mark out the rough Lines of the Projection which must be amply Polished by the Act of Parliament and by the Admiralty to methodize it It would be too tedious for me here beside it would be Presumption in me to light a Candle to the Sun I will only hint a few things necessary thereto viz. if such Orders were That no Merchant Ship shall go to Sea but shall receive of the said Commissioner to every Six or Ten Persons the Ship shall carry one of these Boys they to bring their Certificate for their clearing as from the Custom-house so from the Commissioner of this Affair and at their return to give the said Commissioner an Account of what is become of the Boys and return them and pay or Account with the Commissioner for the time they had served them at the rate of so many Shillings per Month as they are Years old and if the Commissioner and Master does agree then he to take him for the King's Term or else the Commissioner upon the receipt of his Wages out of which he is to allow for Cloaths in the Voyage not exceeding Five Shillings per Month to order him elsewhere Cloathing him with the remainder and dispose of him without further Charge to the King if possible So that after the time he is so put abroad whatsoever Money he clears at his return he must have an Account Debtor and Creditor kept for him so that he must either clear so much as the King hath been at Charges with him at five Pence per diem which Account he must clear before he receives a Certificate from the said Commissioner that he is Manumised or cleared the Service And in the mean time if he serves any other Master and produces not the said Certificate of his Manumisement the said Master is chargeable with the said Wages all except so much as he hath received in Cloaths which must not exceed five Shillings per Month and what he shall have gained beyond his Charges should also be justly paid him at his Manumisement Moreover all the King's Officers that shall take them for the whole Term should pay for one Boy Ten Pounds and receive them at Sixteen Years Old which Moneys should be stopt out of his Pay for every one that wants Servants hath not Ten Pounds to lay down which Servants shall be paid Wages by the King to his Master for every Year they shall serve of the Indenture so many Shillings per Month as they are Years Old which Servants will be better to the Officers than such as they can get themselves for they never need fear the running away of them if they run they are to be found easily by their Marks that they cannot deceive any one that Entertains them the said Officers having the same Right to gain them again with their Wages for their absent time as the King hath for such as he puts abroad to Merchant-men The same Privileges to all Carpenters Caulkers Rope-makers c. that shall take any of them So that every one will covet to take the King's Servants for the certainty of them and they well consequently prove better Servants knowing they cannot shift their Services And also there should be a Respect had to them in the Service during their Indentures by the Commissioners to see them not wronged by their Masters And also at the end of their Indentures or before according to their Deserts they should be preferred Now every Parish that hath not one Boy to send to the King should be joyned to the next adjacent Parish for the relief of their Poor who sends above two Boys Yearly as aforesaid this to be done by the Justices of the Peace in their respective Divisions and every Overseer and Church-warden of every Parish shall at every petty Sessions at one set time in the Year produce to the said Justices a Recept from the Sheriff of the Boys delivered the Year past with the Names and Ages of the said Boys and also the said Sheriff shall at the passing his Accounts for his Year deliver into the Exchequer a true Roll or List in Parchment of the Boys sent that Year containing the Age Name and Place of Abode of the said Boys and when and whither sent with the Commissioner's Receipt for them which should be transacted by a Post Letter of Advice to the Commissioner when he sends which should be answered by the Commissioner whether received or not In the said Roll given into the Exchequer their Names should be set Alphabetically for easie finding them which should be there filled up and kept safe to be examined by any one that shall enquire after any Boy viz. their Parents Relations Friends c. who may have liberty to redeem them out of the Service paying so much for every Year the King has been at Charges with them by Methods ordered for some may have Estates fallen to them or Parents And also once every Year the Commissioner at the General Hospital shall by his Clerk transmit into the Exchequer a fair Ledger Book of all the Boys entred and sent out that Year from whence received and to whom bound out that a good Account may be had thereof when desired Also the Justices of the Peace at the Binding the Boys to the King should take care that he binds none that are not sound in Body and for his guidance therein should receive a Presentment signed by the Minister Church-wardens and Overseers of the Poor of that Parish containing the Age Name and place of Abode and soundness of Body and Limbs of the said Boy and that they desire may be received into the King's Service according to the said Act and if it may be let the Parent if alive or nearest of Kin sign it also I say I do only hint the matter and will hereto add That the Benefits hereby would be in a greater degree than I can set forth and be of little purpose to endeavour it would only serve to lengthen my Discourse and yet come short of every Intelligent Man's Reasons which they may collect out of their more large Speculations Wherefore I only affirm That within Ten nay Seven Years would be added to our Naval Strength many Thousands of good and able Mariners and Artificers and would be an ever-living Seminary thereof and for their constant
or laid out upon some Publick Work-houses for that same Manafact by some Person that that Hundred shall present at a General Quarter-Sessions to be intrusted by them for that purpose And in case some Hundreds are not fitly situated for the said Manufact or that they do refuse or neglect to present a Person to carry on the said Work at the said Quarter-Sessions That then the said Justices of the said County at the said Quarter-Sessions may cause the said Money to be paid unto a Person of some adjacent Hundred in the said County who is as before said duly presented to employ the same to the said Manufuct And whereas I have in this foregoing Discourse for the increase of Maritime People which by a sort of willing Constraint are addicted to Maritime Lives by taking all the Male Children of Poor and Indigent Parents and Binding them to the Sea c. So I here project That all the Families of poor Parents that are not able to maintain them be also bound unto these Persons who are intrusted with the Stock and there to be imployed in the said Manufact until they shall be of the Age as is directed for the Binding of poor Children in a former Act For the maintaining the Poor And whatsoever Parish or Tithing shall not present one Boy as before mentioned or one Girl as here specified at a certain Petty-Sessions held for that District every Year That the Justices of the Peace of the said Division or District shall present the said Neglect at the next General quarter-Quarter-Sessions and the said Bench shall make an Order of Sessions to lay that Parish to the next adjacent Parish for to help maintain their Poor which Parish doth present above two Boys or Girls as is before expressed the said Justices of the Peace of each Division shall for that purpose at every General quarter-Quarter-Sessions give in a List or Roll to the Clerk of the Peace of what such Children are every Year bound out which shall be Entered on a Roll of Record to be kept by the Custos Rotulorum of that County which Roll should be duly called over at one set quarter-Quarter-Sessions in every Year and that Affair duly Setled I do not herein endeavour to Dictate or Methodize the way in particular for the Act of Parliament but I do only hint it Rough-hue it out to be Regulated and Polished by the Skilful Again Those Men Intrusted with the said Stocks might be injoyned to find Work for the Aged or Decrepid of any Parish from whence the said Stock was Collected viz. Such Aged as craveth Alms of the said Parish and the Rates and Natures of the said Works might be setled and agreed by the next Justice of the Peace the Overseer of the Poor to take care for the same to see it be done by the said Justice for the Poor that they be not too hardly dealt with by that Person And if the said Poor cannot do enough of the said Work at that said Rate for their Maintainance then the said Justice to order how much more the Overseer shall allow them towards their Subsistance by which Idleness may be prevented Notwithstanding there hath been a former like Act for every Parish to erect a Work-house for their Poor yet that took little effect for that the Parishes are often too little for to erect a House for Work and no manner of Work of Manufact was set on foot so that that Act proved generally to be of none effect in that point A brief Summary of the whole VVork AS God Almighty hath made Fire Air Earth and Water the wonderful Works of his own Hands in the Creation of the World and therein hath put Man and given him a Dominion over all the Creatures he hath been pleased to furnish his Immense Globe with and given them all living Breath in Common yet unto Mankind hath he given a more particular and inestimable Gift viz. a Portion of his Holy and Divine Spirit that by Wisdom and Justice he might Rule and Govern the same To which he has added by the Writing of his own Finger Laws of his Almighty's Invention to be a Guide and Pattern for him And also more particularly Inspired Princes Prophets Priests Evangelists Apostles and Teachers to promulgate his Will and yet more that there might nothing be lacking to compleat Man's happiness in this World and in the World to come viz. to all Eternity and be left without all manner of excuse he hath sent from his own Bosome his only begotten Son the Heir apparent and Lord of the everlasting Inheritance and given him to be a Sacrifice to satisfie his Justice to wipe out all the Stores of the Sins of all Mankind and not only so but to amplifie and confirm the Doctrines of those holy Men hath promised he will continue his Holy Ghost to guide Man to the World's End and preserve him from the implacable hatred the Devil hath unto him Yet notwithstanding all these helps Mankind by the instigation of the Evil one together with his own evil will and affections falls into the abominable Sin of Pride the very sin that moved God to Disband and Expel out of his Heavenly Mansion some of his Glorious Hoast I say it is this sin of Pride by seeking for Dominion over others is the cause of those great Devastations of Countries of Blood shed of Men the one endeavouring by Policy and Strength to gain the other's Right not caring for God's Laws promulgated by those holy orders of Men aforesaid or by God Incarnate Wherefore it is of absolute necessity for all good Men by Christian Policy and united Strength to resist the Proud for God giveth Grace to the humble to be content with their own and to defend it yet whensoever right is put into the Balance of War God giveth it an Issue according to his Divine purpose by which Issue he transfers Rights from the one to the other Now there is not only a right of Dominion belonging to Countries by their Divisions and Subdivisions of Land but also of the Seas for every Country bordering upon the Ocean hath a particular Dominion in the Seas viz. to govern it and to keep and preserve it from Pirates and Robbers that Men might pass in safety about their Lawful Occasions and also to take the Product thereof as Fish c. as God hath endued it with Now the Dominion of the Narrow Seas being from antient History always allowed and granted upon all Treaties and Conditions of Peace made between all the bordering Nations to be the proper Right of the Imperial Crown of England God having placed it an Island in the Deucalidan Ocean which makes the Narrow Seas and stored it with Ports and Rivers convenient for the receiving of Ships beyond any other Nation in Europe and furnishing it with Timber and Iron of their own Product for the building of Ships and also a People sufficiently apt for the same as it were pointing unto